Horatio William Parker

1863-1919. American composer. The most distinguished composer of church music born in America up to that time, he studied in Munich with Rheinberger. He held various organ posts about New York and in Boston. He taught at Yale, where he had many distinguished pupils, including Charles Ives. He was also a founder of the American Guild of Organists. Many of his hymn tunes and anthems were widely used. His most ambitious work was his Hora Novissima, using a portion of the great poem by Bernard of Cluny. The success of this impressive score brought him commissions from several of the British choir festivals, and Cambridge University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Parker's work marked a movement away from the quartet anthems then popular to a style of greater liturgical propriety.